Just Another Love Story
by E Chiove
Summary: Malcolm and Hoshi. Awww... If only it were that simple. Warning: slash in Ch 5 but oh, so worth it...
1. Chapter 1

Malcolm Reed walked down the corridor and turned into the mess hall. It was 1900 – Hoshi would be here like she was every night at 7. He scanned the noisy eating area.

And there she was.

Sitting next to Travis, smiling at something he had said.

He sucked in a deep breath and approached her.

"Here is the new translator," his voice cracked on 'new' and he cursed himself, "I updated it with those languages that were in the database of the alien species that we…."

His voice trailed off as she reached up and took the silver machine, brushing his hand in the process.

Hoshi turned it over in her hand. "Pretty soon we won't even need a linguist on board," She said, smiling "There were almost 200 languages in that ship's database."

"We'll always need someone to push that little hailing button," he teased, trying not to imagine life without Hoshi Sato.

Hoshi smiled, "Would you like to join us?" She motioned to an empty chair across from Travis.

As much as he wanted to, he could not break his date with Commander Tucker.

"Sorry," he said, "I promised Trip that I would burn him in the workout room tonight."

"Malcolm, take it easy," panted Trip as he glanced worriedly over at his friend, who was running like there was a big, mean, ugly Xindi on his tail. Trip had been in a medium jog for 20 minutes… Malcolm had been in a flat-out sprint.

Malcolm looked over at Trip and pushed the treadmill he was on to top speed, "Make me," he smirked.

Trip turned his off completely and leaned on the bar while he watched Malcolm sweat.

"It's about Hoshi, i'nt it?" Trip laughed.

"Wha? - aaaaaaaaaah" Malcolm had stopped running to face Trip completely at the mention of Hoshi, and had promptly gotten thrown on the floor.

"It is not," He flipped over onto his stomach and began to do pushups.

Trip stared in wonder, then walked over and turned off the still-running treadmill.

"5 6 7" counted Malcolm, ignoring Trip who was now standing over him.

"Why don't you just ask her out already?"

"10 11 12 13"

Trip stared down at him, patiently.

Malcolm began to clap his hands together in between pushups.

"16"

"Oh, wait that's right, Travis and she are already…"

He didn't get to finish because Malcolm had stopped mid pushup and fallen flat on his face.

He glanced up, from where he lay, at Trip's smiling face.

"Not funny at all, Mister Tucker, not goddamm bloody funny at all."

"OK, OK, Travis and Hoshi aren't going out at all," Trip mimicked Malcolm's British accent on the at all, "Not goddamm bloody going out at all."

Malcolm heaved a sigh of either relief or exhaustion

"They claim that they are strictly friends…. With benefits."

Malcolm made as if to rush him but then, ever-constrained, stopped himself.

"Trust me on this one," Trip looked Malcolm directly in the eyes and emphasized his all of his words, "I definitely know there is nothing physical going on between Hoshi and Travis. Trust me, they do not feel that way about each other. OK?"

Malcolm jumped to his feet, gritting his teeth "Come and spot for me."

"Wow, man," Trip said as they walked through the corridor towards the mess hall, "I STILL can't believe that you can bench 375 pounds."

Malcolm shrugged indifferently.

"What's wrong, Reed?" Trip asked, "You aren't acting like you're on steroids anymore."

They stepped into the turbolift. Trip pushed the button for the deck they wanted.

"I STILL can't believe that you can bench 375 pounds."

"Yeah…" Malcolm said.

Hoshi and Travis came out of the mess hall just as Trip and Malcolm were approaching it. Malcolm stopped dead in his tracks. Trip raised an eyebrow and then pushed Malcolm forward.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Hi."

"How was your workout?" Hoshi asked.

"It was, uh, fine," Reed stuttered.

Trip regarded Reed's nervousness and smirked at it, "Did you know that Malcolm can bench 375 pounds?"

This caused Reed to blush.

"How was your dinner?" Reed asked to change the subject

Travis laughed, "Hoshi found out that Crewman Perez spoke Tagalog so we HAD to talk to him for, like, an hour. We as in Hoshi of course."

Hoshi shrugged, "Tagalog is my favorite language."

Malcolm filed this away for future reference. He had actually gone to prep school with a boy from the Philippines. Malcolm had asked him to teach him some Tagalog once, just out of curiosity. The only word he still remembered, though, was besa – beer.

Malcolm smiled, imagining himself in some Tagalog-speaking country, trying to carry on a conversation with some villager. He had enough trouble talking in English – especially when he was talking a certain beautiful linguist.

"Well, Travis and I need to get to bed – early shift tomorrow," Hoshi said, "Thank you for the updated translator, Malcolm."

A pang of jealousy ripped through Malcolm's torso at the mention of Travis. He did like how she said "Malcolm" though. Sexy was not something that his name was. But her voice…. Yes, her voice somehow made his name sound extremely nice.

"You like him," said Travis once they were in the turbolift.

"Who?" asked Hoshi staring straight into her hand, pretending to be concentrating on the new translator even though she was really thinking about how hot Malcolm Reed's hair looked when it was wet and messed up after showering.

"You like him, you like him," repeated Travis, with a smile, "You want to hug him , you want to kiss him, you want to love him…."

Hoshi glanced up, "Do you know any other crew members who speak different first languages than English?"

"Yes, Malcolm Reed."

Hoshi sighed.

Travis flashed her his trademark grin, "He speaks the language of love. Fluently."

Hoshi ignored him.

"I think he would like it if you had a conversation with him," Travis prompted.

"Tempting, but I think I'll just go conjugate Klingon verbs."

"You know ya wanna."

"Did you know that the Klingon's have over 87 words for disembowel?"

"Did you see the way Malcolm was looking at you?"

Hoshi finally broke, "Yeah, he is kinda sweet"

Travis grinned.

"How good is bench pressing 375 pounds, anyway?"

Travis raised his eyebrows twice "You are SO shallow."

Reed stared down at his plate of food. He watched Trip eat hungrily. Trip looked up.

"I still can't believe you can bench 375 pounds, Mal."

Reed picked up his fork and stuck it in his mashed potatoes.

"Eat, dammit, Reed."

Reed set the fork down and picked up the Ketchup bottle. He squirted a tablespoon or so on his potatoes and recapped the bottle.

Trip set his own fork down and leaned forward intent on Malcolm's face.

Malcolm mixed the potatoes and ketchup together with his fork until it was all orange. He scraped his fork off on the side of his tray and began to pick at his chicken. He moved on to his salad.

"How come you always freeze up when I mention Hoshi or we see her?"

The fork with the cherry tomato on it stopped halfway to Malcolm's mouth.

"See?" Trip smirked.

Malcolm glared at him and flicked the small tomato at him.

It bounced off of Trip's chest and landed on his tray.

Trip picked it up and held it between his index finger and thumb.

"Also," he said staring at it, "Aren't you allergic to tomatoes? She's really gotten to you."


	2. Chapter 2

Message from Chef to Captain Archer

Captain -

Please be informed that we could increase food efficiency if the crew did not waste so much. (For example, I have seen SOME crewmembers dumping condiments in their sidedishes, making them look too revolting to eat. Also, I do not think that tossing around small pieces of fruit, such as tomatoes is acceptable conduct for a Star Fleet crew.) The crew would all benefit if they did not take more than they plan on eating. Thank you.

- Chef

Ensign Travis Mayweather's personal log

Hmmph. What a misnomer… Personal log? If it was my PERSONAL log, then why would I be talking about the ongoing relational development in the Reed/Sato front. On that subject though, the plot thickens. Guess who was flirting with Hoshi today? Yep, the Brit himself. Usually I would not concern myself with this frivility. But they just look so damn CUTE together.

I know Hoshi better than Malcolm, but Malcolm's OK I guess. I know for a fact though that Hoshi still has the shirt that Malcolm lent her when she showed up in his quarters topless that one time that Archer was sent to the future….

I can always tell when someone is in love.

Speaking of love, I have a date later tonight. So if you'll excuse me.

Ensign Hoshi Sato's personal log.

Today was a pretty good day. Oh, and for the record I am not the least attracted to Malcolm Reed.

Even though he does have that adorable accent. And he can kick anyone's ass on the ship. And he was nice enough to update the translator for me. And he has the cutest blush. And he can bench 375 pounds.

Nope, not attracted at all.

In fact, I am going to return the shirt that he let me borrow – when I showed up at his quarters shirtless when our ship was crawling with the Suliban and our captain was apparently off in the future with Daniels. But that's a different story. Yeah, well, I haven't gotten around to returning the shirt to him, in the year that I've had it so I am going to do so right now. Here I go. This is to prove to certain people, like Travis, that I am not romantically interested in Malcolm at all.

Besides, Malcolm would never fall for me anyway. If I liked him. Hypothetically speaking.

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed's personal log.

I do not like Ensign Sato. End of discussion.

Commander Charles Tucker's personal log.

You-know-who is coming over later tonight. Yay.

However, I am still worried about Mal. He is obsessing. She's all he seems to think about. And he is having mood swings too. Like a teenager. Today in the gym, he was fairly quiet like usual, but he had too much energy and adrenaline. I still can't believe he benched 375 pounds. But then he was really depressed after we came out of the showers. And every time I mention Hoshi's name he gets all weird. He's also blowing off everything that I say.

I guess it's really none of my business but I am going to go get to the bottom of this right now. I know he's still up.


	3. Chapter 3

Lieutenant Malcolm J. Reed, Armoury Officer on the Enterprise, was wearing pajamas. He sat staring at his computer screen in flannel pants and a grey t-shirt.

Hoshi grabbed the armoury officer's T'shirt which she kept safely hidden in her drawer, next to the teddy bear she had had since she was 3, and left her room.

Tucker grabbed the case of beer that he kept safely hidden under his bed and left his room.

Malcolm jumped when he heard his door chime. Recovering himself, he shut out of the Star Fleet profile of Hoshi Sato that he was staring at, and walked to the door.

The last time that Hoshi Sato had come to his room, she had been half naked. This time she was fully clothed. She had let her hair down and her cheeks were slightly red for some reason or another.

"What are you doing here?" he asked without thinking.

She blushed some more, "I, uh…"

"Sorry, come in," he invited. She followed him into his spotless quarters.

"Here's the shirt that I borrowed."

"Two years ago?" he asked.

"I had to… you know, like, wash it."

Malcolm didn't answer because at that moment the door chimed again.

"Come in," Malcolm called, with a sigh.

"OK, buddy, you are going to tell me exactly what is going on between you and her – oh, hi, Hoshi," Trip paused when he saw the linguist. He began to edge towards the door, "I guess I'd better be going….."

"I'm just leaving anyway," Hoshi said.

"Well, it's fine if you all leave, but, Trip, can you leave the beer behind?"

"Good night, Lieutenant," Hoshi said, "Don't get too drunk, you have first shift tomorrow."

Malcolm nodded, "Good night."

When the doors had swooshed closed, Trip raised his eyebrows expectantly, "Well….?"

"Well, what?" asked Malcolm, refolding the shirt in his hands.

"You know what I'm talking about."

Malcolm set the shirt gently on his desk, "She came to return my shirt, OK?"

Trip's eyebrows went up even higher, "Is there something that you're not telling me, Mal?"

"There's plenty of stuff that I'm not telling you."

Still stunned, Hoshi walked slowly back to her own quarters, processing what Trip had said.

"OK, buddy, you are going to tell me exactly what is going on between you and her – oh, hi Hoshi."

Who was 'her'? Was Malcolm involved with someone? Trip seemed genuinely startled to find her in Malcolm's quarters instead of… some other crew member.

Hoshi sighed.

"So, let me get this straight," Trip said, "She shows up at your door, topless, and you don't tell me?"

"I didn't want to humiliate her. She already went through enough that day."

"You really think her shirt just got stuck?"

"What are you implying?"

"I think she 'lost' her shirt on purpose so that she could come and borrow one from you. Too many coincidences, ya know. Especially since where she supposedly 'lost' her shirt was closer to my quarters than yours."

"Maybe she just wanted to come to someone who she knew she could TRUST. Just piss off, OK? It's none of your goddamn business."

Trip shrugged. Leaving the beer with Malcolm, he walked back to his own quarters. It was true that Malcolm's love life or lack thereof was none of his business. He entered his quarters and sat down on his bed, thinking. It wasn't like he was telling Malcolm Reed everything about his own love life, as it were.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Travis Mayweather entered Hoshi Sato's quarters without chiming. After waiting 12 minutes for her to show up for breakfast, he had grabbed some coffee and come to find her.

Hoshi was awake, but immobile. She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, barely blinking. Without saying anything, Travis set the coffee down, set out a clean uniform on the counter in the bathroom, and came back to the bedside. With one great swoop, his arms picked her up and set her upright. He pushed her gently into the bathroom and closed the door.

"20 minutes," he called.

He made her bed and even did hospital corners while she showered. When she emerged, 9 minutes later, he held up a small mirror and handed her mascara and then lipstick.

Travis stepped back and cocked his head, "Much better."

Hoshi allowed herself to slump onto her newly made bed.

Travis kneeled down in front of her and gathered her into his arms, "What's wrong?"

Hoshi burst into tears.

"This wouldn't be about a certain British armory officer, would it?"

Hoshi only buried her face deeper in Travis' neck.

To: Jonathon Archer

From: SubCommander

Subject: Fraternization and Punctuality

Captain,

I am aware that you humans should not be expected to make as adequate officers as my race does. The superiority of Vulcans is common knowledge among both of our species. Even a species as primitive as yours SHOULD be able to notice the obvious differences between us.

However, things have lately, as you might say, gotten out of hand. Today, for example, two specific ensigns entered the bridge over 3.23 minutes late. This alone would be reason for punishment in my view – but that is not all. Although I do not like to speculate, there seems to be only one logical explanation as to why Ensign Sato's lipstick was smeared all over (Vulcans do NOT exaggerate) Ensign Mayweather's neck. My sensitive and extremely evolved and superior nasal passages also picked up Ensign Sato's perfume on Ensign Mayweather's body. I believe you – although human – will be able to figure out why.

It would benefit the crew if you were to remind them of the rules concerning fraternization – or at least tell them to be discreet. Please also enforce your shift time schedule guidelines.

Sub-commander

Science Officer

Enterprise

Captain Archer glanced at the padd in his hand. After reading over the note from T'pol he glanced at her back and rolled his eyes. He then glanced to Hoshi's station.

Travis was leaning over the console, whispering something to Hoshi. Hoshi smiled at what he said and whispered something back. The lipstick was hard to see on Travis' neck but it was visible.

Archer sighed. He would much rather shoot any amount of dangerous aliens than give the two ensigns the talk he was about to give them. Archer watched Hoshi touch Travis's arm as Travis smiled his wide smile.

T'pol glanced his way and quirked an eyebrow. Archer sighed again and rolled his eyes. He wrote a quick note on a padd and stood up.

"Travis? Since the ship is on auto-pilot, would you be able to run this down to engineering for me and give it to the commander?"

Travis straightened up and took the padd, easy to please.

"Aye, sir."

As soon as Travis had left Archer cracked his knuckles and walked towards the back of the bridge, "Ensign Sato, I would like to see you in my ready room."

Hoshi glanced up, surprised, from her console, "Me?"

She followed him into his ready room and took the seat he offered her. Archer sat on the opposite side of the desk for a moment, and then stood up and collected his thoughts. How was he going to tell Hoshi to be more discreet about her relationship with Travis? They did look cute together – he had to admit that. And they were right for each other. But still. He could not ask them to end it. They just had to make it more quiet… and less obvious. Archer began to pace.

"Have you ever seen a newborn gazelle?"

He paused for emphasis.

Hoshi blinked, "Um… actually…"

"That was rhetorical, Hoshi," Archer said impatiently, "It was a metaphor for your sex life."

The turbolift doors opened and a whistling Mayweather stepped out into the hallway, tapping a padd against his hand. His whistling was cut short when all of a sudden he was slammed back into the turbolift and pinned against the wall.

"My… sex life, sir?"

Archer sighed and examined his cuticles. This was going to be A LOT harder than he had anticipated.

Inside the turbolift, the padd fell to the floor as Travis struggled against the strong grip of the bulk of muscle, which had him pressed against the wall, practically suffocating him.


	5. Chapter 5

THE TURBOLIFT

The strong bulk holding Travis against the wall relaxed a little but still maintained a sharp enough hold so the pilot could not easily get away.

"Happy to see me, Trip?" Travis asked as he wriggled slightly against the older man's grip.

Trip did not reply. Instead, he began to kiss the base of Travis's neck, working his way to the side and up to his ear.

"Sorry that I left before you woke up – I was supposed to meet Hoshi for breakfast and I know you didn't have a shift until later that day and you were still sleeping so I… Do you really think this is a good idea? I mean it's the turbol-"

Trip moved his own mouth to Travis's to get him to shut up. Travis started at the touch but soon gave in and kissed him back.

When Trip broke the kiss to make eye contact with Travis for the first time since they had been in the turbolift, Travis began to prattle nervously again.

"I… I… Archer… sent me down to engineering to bring that padd – the one on the floor – to you in engineering and so I…"

Trip kissed him on the mouth again, pulled back and sighed, "Would you please shut up and let ME bring engineering to you?"

For the first time, Travis allowed his tense muscles to relax completely as he gave into the commander's engineering skills.

THE READYROOM

From where she was sitting, watching Captain Archer pace back and forth as he mumbled under his breath, Hoshi was growing increasingly nervous. She gripped the cool, gray armrests of the standard issue military chair and her leg began to fidget.

Archer drew himself up to his full height. How was he going to ask her to end her romantic interest with Travis when he was involved with someone himself? The best he could do would be to ask her to be discreet about it.

Archer finally sat down on the edge of the room's desk and took Hoshi's hands in his own. He remembered the first day he had met her – she had looked so young and innocent.

Over the years, he had become impressed by and proud of her linguistic and military skills. It would be safe to say he had developed some sort of paternal love for her and was uncomfortable with her relationship with Travis - or with anyone for that matter.

Archer felt like he was losing the daughter he never had to his own pilot. He gripped Hoshi's hands tighter and looked into her eyes.

"I've been rehearsing this for awhile now," he began, "But I still do not know exactly what I am going to say or how it will sound. I sincerely hope you understand that I have only the best intentions for you, because I do care about you deeply."

"Are you firing me?" Hoshi joked.

Archer laughed loudly at the very idea, "Firing you? No way… you are the most… amazing… linguist… and young woman I could ever hope to have serving aboard my ship. You are intelligent, athletic, funny… and one of the most beautiful women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing."

A small part of Hoshi began to panic. She began to retract her hands from Archer's strong grip, but he did not let go. Instead he continued.

"What I wanted to talk to you about today, though, is something completely different than your JOB on this ship."

Hoshi gulped, "Um… sir… I really am comfortable just doing my job. If I have been making mistakes lately, I am sorry. I will work harder to do a better job."

"No, no," Archer smiled and gazed into her eyes. If he ever had a daughter, he wanted her to be just like Hoshi, "I remember the first day I met you."

Hoshi's leg began to bounce faster and she bit her lip until it bled.

"You looked so young and innocent."

Hoshi gulped again. Archer's gaze had been wistful and held a hint of longing. Was he HITTING on her?

"But now you have had a chance to blossom. You are now in your prime. You have become a beautiful, independent woman."

He had always seemed like such a role model and almost father figure for her during their time together on the Enterprise. Had she misinterpreted his meaning when he had hired her personally? Was it because he wanted her linguistic skills? Or had he wanted something else all along?

Archer stood up again and released her hands. Now he had come to the hard part – bringing up her relationship with Travis. He placed a gentle, caring, fatherly hand on his young Ensign's shoulder, the way his father had done when he had given him advice.

"However, I understand that you may feel you sometimes need a man at night to make yourself complete. It is only natural for you to want to explore your sexuality with a, how shall I word this? Competent male…"

There was no doubt in Hoshi's mind anymore. Archer's touch and his tone – so… she did not know the word. Perverted came briefly into her mind.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Hoshi screamed as she stood up and knocked Archer's hand off her shoulder.

The hurt in Archer's eyes was evident. This was not going as planned. He must have been misunderstood, "Look, Hoshi-dear, I love you like a d-"

His explanation was cut short as he felt a foot connect with one of the most sensitive areas of his body. He doubled over in pain as Hoshi hurried towards the door.

She glanced back towards the man she once respected and loved as nearly as she loved her own father.

With tears in her eyes, she bravely faced him and stared directly into his eyes, "No. You only love yourself." With that she was out of the readyroom.

From where he sat on the edge of his desk, biting his lip and holding his crotch in pain, Archer concluded Hoshi was obviously quite smitten with Travis. It was time for a plan B. Trip would know what to say to Hoshi about her relationship with Travis.


End file.
